The British Buy A Chunk Of Poconos

March 09, 1988|by RAY HOLTON, The Morning Call

A London-based operator of campgrounds, hotels and resorts in Europe and the U.S. has acquired the Fernwood Resort and Country Club and other real estate and resort holdings of the Ahnert family in the Poconos, the two companies announced yesterday.

The price was not disclosed, but the Rank Organisation reported more than $1 billion in sales revenue last year, while the Ahnert holdings brought in $100 million in revenue and employed about 2,200 full- and part-time workers.

"This is the single biggest foreign investment in the Poconos," said Robert Uguccioni, executive director of Pocono Mountains Vacation Bureau of Stroudsburg.

"It's probably the single biggest resort transaction. We're on a roll in a lot of things up here. This company (Rank) has looked throughout the United States and had a lot of options where to invest this money. They decided on Poconos."

Ahnert Enterprises of Bushkill is a diversified developer of resort real estate on the East Coast and has owned and operated the Fernwood Resort and Country Club on Rte. 209, 16 miles north of Stroudsburg, for more than 40 years. Ahnert Enterprises was acquired by Rank America Inc., the American subsidiary of the Rank Organisation of London.

Ahnert's operations included in the sale are:

- Outdoor World Corp., owner and operator of 14 camp resorts in seven eastern states

- Lehman-Pike Development Corp., owner of Saw Creek Estates, a 2,500-lot resort community in the Poconos

"We believe that the acquisition of Ahnert provides an outstanding opportunity for Rank to expand its operations in holidays, recreation and leisure development facilities into the U.S.A," said Michael Gifford, managing director and chief executive of Rank.

"It has long been part of Rank's business plan to invest further in the U.S.A. . . . and our market research indicates that Ahnert's type of leisure activities have good potential for profitable growth."

Rank is the developer of Kingston Plantation, a resort in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where apartments and "villas" are being sold and where Rank operates a hotel and recreation center.

In England and Europe, Rank is "the leading operator of caravan park resorts and we anticipate that the combination of our successful experience in these areas with excellent management of Ahnert will provide much cross- fertilization for expansion and profit improvement in both businesses," said Gifford.

Ahnert will operate under Rank Leisure Developments Division, headed by Leslie Bond, while Ahnert's current president, Peter Ahnert, has signed a three-year contract "to continue to lead the further expansion of Ahnert," Gifford said.